Beth Nakamura/The OregonianErica Gordon, who became suddenly famous because of the "tofu explosion" (even though her tofu didn't really explode) is now worried about being evicted from her apartment in Northwest Portland over a $6,000 bill for damages.

What should have been a simple meal is turning out to be Erica Gordon's most expensive dinner ever. Her landlord has socked her with a $6,000 bill for damage, and if she doesn't pay, she has to move out of her Old Town apartment.

Although what took place remains unclear and in dispute, the event has gone down in Portland Fire & Rescue lore.

It began last November, when the 25-year-old Gordon invited her boyfriend over for a tofu dinner. She had a pan warming on her stove, and it somehow triggered an explosion that blew out her apartment windows and activated a sprinkler system that dumped 15 gallons of water a minute into the small studio apartment.

Immediately dubbed the "tofu explosion," the bizarre circumstances surrounding the event caused the story to spread quickly across the country.

'Exploding tofu' gets woman evictedErica Gordon was getting ready to cook some tofu for dinner one night this past November when suddenly the windows were blown out of her apartment. She still doesn't know why. After being displaced during the repairs, she is now facing eviction due to her inability to pay for the over $4000 in damage she was billed for.

Accounts appeared in many of the nation's newspapers. The story also ended up on Gawker, the Huffington Post and in the Daily Dispatch, a news service for the nation's firefighters. An animated -- and less than fully accurate -- short of the incident later showed up on YouTube.

"I got more phone calls and e-mails on this than on anything I've been involved with," said Paul Corah, fire spokesman. "I even got a telephone call from my mother who wanted to know what happened."

And there's the rub. It seems no one knows for sure. But the bottom line is that Gordon is on the hook.

"I don't have that kind of money," Gordon said.

"She has the choice to pay what she owes or vacate," said Michael Havlik, a Pinnacle Property manager. "I'm glad she didn't harm herself more seriously. Ultimately this isn't about tofu, damages or insurance. It's about fire danger and I hope that people talk about safety. I've had the conversation with my family."

Even if Gordon moves, Havlik said, she remains liable.

"It will go to collections," he said. "It's her decision."

Gordon said she did nothing wrong. She said she had the pan on the stove over medium heat. She said she turned away from the stove and was preparing tofu to put in the pan when the windows blew out and the sprinkler activated.

Her boyfriend, who was walking back from a grocery store, heard the explosion and thought two cars had collided. When he reached the 300 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue he saw the windows from his girlfriend's apartment in the street.

She estimated the sprinkler ran for nearly 30 minutes. To drain the water, she said, firefighters had to rip the bathroom toilet from the floor and use the sewer pipe.

At the time, fire investigators were puzzled. Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were called in.

"Everyone who came into the apartment kept saying they'd never seen anything like this," Gordon said.

Investigators eventually determined the explosion had been caused by what Corah described as an "over pressure event."

Corah said investigators believe the overheated pan was doused with water. He said that causes a rapid conversion from water to steam, which created a plume associated with pressure.

"When water turns into steam it expands 1,700 times," Corah said. "Water had to have been put in that pan or it never would have happened."

He said the explosion most likely knocked the window out of the frame and it fell onto the street.

"It's not like an explosion that blew it 100 feet," he said. "With all the clues and interviews, our investigators concluded this is the only thing it could be.

"We go to grease fires all the time," he said. "A kitchen is burned up when water is thrown on the flames. In my 30 years, this is the first time a window was blown out."

Tom Gordon, Erica's father and an attorney, said none of it makes sense.

"I got a call at home and my daughter said, 'Dad, my apartment just blew up'," he said. "Given the theory, imagine the volume of steam it would take to blow out a window. The scenario painted just doesn't make sense. I think it may have been stray sewer gas or something in the ventilation."

He said he thinks his daughter is "being leveraged" by a large corporation.

Gordon said she has lived in the apartment for more than four years and has had no complaints lodged against her. She's worried the $6,000 bill hanging over her head will make it difficult for her to be approved to rent another apartment.

She has to be out by early March, and is busy looking for a new place.

No matter where she lives, Gordon said she will continue cooking tofu.